Our One Year Anniversary

One Year Ago, we celebrated the release of our books, Down in the Ham: A Child’s Guide to Downtown Birminghamand Color the Ham: A Down in the Ham Coloring Book. Since then, we have been delighted and overwhelmed by your response!

A lot has happened over the past year, so here’s a little update as well as a sneak peak at a future project.

Down in the Ham Decks the Ham

Back in December, we participated in a Deck the Ham contest, which involved painting a Christmas-themed mural on the window of a participating business downtown. Abby, Down in the Ham’s illustrator, created a beautiful Nutcracker themed design called “Vulcan in the Land of Sweet Birmingham.” And guess what? We won the contest!

We also learned that what comes up must come down – and that painting a window mural and removing it both take a lot longer than anticipated!

Abby Gets Married, Moves, & Paints Murals

A week after our Book Launch Bash last year, Mark Jessup proposed to Abby, and they were married on March 10th at Briarwood Presbyterian. She and her husband moved to Brewton, Alabama, where he works as a minister at First Presbyterian.

After Deck the Ham, Abby has been asked to paint several murals – two at The Summit, one in Montgomery, and an upcoming one at Brookwood Mall. To see pics of these projects, you can follow @missabbylittle or @downintheham on Instagram.

Bethany Gets Engaged!

We couldn’t have completed Color the Hamwithout the help of the talented Bethany Hubbard, and back in February, Abby contributed to her proposal by drawing a picture of Bethany’s now fiancé proposing at the rooftop of the Elyton Hotel. He attached this drawing to the back of the coloring book, which he gave to her while they were at the Elyton. When she looked up, he was on his knee proposing – just like in the drawing!

They’re getting married in just a few days – on June 16!

Ashley Graduates & Goes Global

Back when Down in the Ham was only an idea, Ashley had started back to school working on her biblical counseling certification (while also working full-time at The Church at Brook Hills). She had to take a lighter course load after the book came out in order to balance everything, but she finally finished school (hopefully forever) this past May!

She celebrated by taking a trip with friends to England & Ireland over spring break where she drank in the history, the sites, and countless cups of tea.

What’s Next?

You’ll continue to see us around town promoting the books, and Ashley has started doing school visits with 4th graders since the book pairs well with their study of Alabama History. She enjoys talking with them about the book and about Birmingham’s history, particularly Birmingham’s civil rights history.

We are also in the beginning stages of working on another Birmingham project, which we hope to release in time for the holidays. So stay tuned – and follow us on Instagram and Facebook for the most up to date info about our books and all things Birmingham!

We also continue to support WorkFaith Birmingham with proceeds from book sales. Check out the promo video below that Ashley did with WorkFaith back at Christmas.